Only him helicopter flightthe fire trucks parked on the street and burned vegetation remember the trace of the reactivation of the forest fire from last month of August, that last Wednesday generated a major scare in the upper part of Santa Úrsula and in the Pino Alto area that corresponds to La Orotava. The trace of strong winds It can be seen in the dry leaves accumulated on sidewalks, the doors of houses and in the entrances to garages.
The return of the neighbors evicted occurred this Friday, October 6, progressivelyafter the mayor of Saint Ursula, Juan Manuel Acosta, will personally communicate to those affected shortly before eleven in the morning than from 1:00 p.m. all entrances were open.
Each one arrived when they could. Many took the opportunity to have lunch at relatives’ houses before returning with their bags, clothes and other belongings to their homes. But after 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.still There were many homes that remained empty, silent and with the doors closed.. All the people consulted showed their relief and respite to return to normalalthough with great caution, after what happened in August and this week.
The attachment to the land and the landscape is evident. Two sisters and the husband of one of them get out of a vehicle on Pino Alto Street. But before entering the evicted woman’s house, the first thing they do is notice the trees blackened by the fire. They notice two tall pine trees on the Banderola road, which the flames completely caught.
They both feel lucky because the fire did not reach their homes. One of their fears was that the farm that borders their respective properties has been abandoned for years and provided ideal fuel for the expansion of the fire. However, the flames remained at about 300 meters. The evicted woman explains that she was at her sister’s home, “but there is no house like your own,” she remembers.
He indicates that he was very afraid, since on Wednesday he left behind his home, in which he has put his entire life savings. The night from Wednesday to Thursday was the worst, because, from a distance, “we saw the houses on fire; it was ugly,” remembers the sister of the evicted neighbor.
A couple returns to their residence in Pino Alto in their white car. While unloading the bags, they acknowledge that “we are happy,” after experiencing “a lot of fear.” The woman points out that the fire advanced very quickly towards the coast after noon; “He was seen and not seen, in just 15 minutes he advanced from top to bottom.”
The first night was spent at the home of one of the daughters and the second at the home of the other. “If not, they get angry,” her mother comments with a smile. The couple had another alternative: her motorhome, but this time they decided to leave it parked.
On the other hand, a resident on El Guanche street, in La Corujera, did choose to hitch his caravan to his car and spend two days in it. He also did so during the August evacuation. “Let’s hope we don’t need to do it anymore for this reason,” he comments an hour after returning to his home.
This time there were no losses. The same did not happen in the fire that affected several municipalities in Tenerife in the summer. On that occasion the flames destroyed 23 beehives in the upper part of Santa Úrsula and a part of them were theirs.
He regrets that, two days before this incident occurred, he asked the Police to allow him to go to the place where he had the hives to take them down to a safe place. But the agents did not allow it. This Friday he found out that he could return home from the news in the media.
Another of the citizens of La Corujera feels “indignation” after having been evicted for the second time in just a month and a half. “It’s not so easy when you have a house in a rural area, into which you have put all the efforts of a lifetime,” he says.
He acknowledges that this time the flames burned an orchard with fruit trees in the Cruz de La Atalaya area. In his opinion, if the wind direction had been different, the fire would have destroyed a wide area of vineyards and would have reached some of the houses in the upper part of Guanche Street.
Considers that the authorities should apply more effective actions to clean and care for forest areas, with the opening of more firebreaks to prevent certain mishaps. Furthermore, he believes it is important to have the opinion of those who have experience in rural areas.
In any case, he feels “happy to be in my house; if the fire continues, we would have had it raw.”
